Land of Eternal Youth and Beauty
by Survivable
Summary: A chaptered fanfic based on an Irish family aboard Titanic as they decide whether or not to stay on the ship and die together or leave the father begin and board life boats. Based on the scene where the children are told the story of Tir Na Nog.
1. Chapter 1

**Land of Eternal Youth and Beauty: Chapter One **

The welps of parents and children flooded the barely audiable E Deck. Water had already begun to soak the floors of the steerage passengers' rooms, infiltrating into their belongings, the sound of light gushing waking babes from their slumber. Crew rushed through the decks, slamming down doors and ordering the dressing of all passengers, "put on warm clothes and fasten your life belts", they'd call into every room, causing a wave of panic to fall through every family. And then they'd dictate themselves, as every passenger asked if their was any danger, asked if they needed to evacuate, there'd be a shake of the head.

"I will not let them board a lifeboat and leave you behind to drown!" The welps and cries of Mrs O'Byrne could be heard through the wave of chaos. She was a small yet slender woman, clad in only a thin nightgown. The ringlets in her hair fell down her back and onto her visible chest bown, framing the petite and elegant posture of the middle-aged woman.

"Save them, please, save yourselves," cried back her husband, cooing "it'll be okay" every few seconds to their two young sons: Sean, the youngest, wrapped in Patrick's arms as tears streamed down his face.

"Look what you've created now, Olivia. The kids are crying and you've made even more chaos. Let's just get the hell out of here and onto a boat." Michael's voice was exasperated and full with despair. The blue eyes of their children met his gaze as he scanned the cabin.

"Please, Olivia, let them go."

She stood firm and stern-looking at the bunks of her sons.

"We're not leaving if you're not, isn't that right, kids?"

Patrick released his clasp from around his brother and sat up in the bed.

"What's going on, ma? What's happening? Why's there water on the floor?"

Olivia's eyes were not noticeably full with tears. She clutched her son's face in her palms and knelt to his eye line. His red hair fluttered around his face with the icy, Atlantic breeze entering through the open window.

"Are you sure you want to know, sweetheart?"

The little boy nodded his head slowly.

"There's just a wee bit of trouble up on the decks, darling. Nothing to worry around. Why don't you pop off to sleep so we'll reach New York sooner? Sounds like a plan, doesn't it?"

Patrick nodded before beginning to rest his head on the white pillow beneath him. He waited for a few seconds before starting to shuffle around in his bed, adjusting the layers of sheets interwined with his body. Once again, he held his younger brother's hand and closed his eyes. Such a deep sleeper, the only sign he was still living was the puff of breath that left from between his chapped lips every few seconds and the slight flutter of an eyelash.

Olivia and Michael lay silent for the few lingering minutes, before Michael exclaimed, "We're wasting time."

Mrs O'Byrne resumed her stern-faced emotion, before resuming to a more sorrowful expression after a long sigh.

"What's the point, Michael? We're steerage, the lowest their is. They don't care about us, we're the rats of this ship. For all they care, all seven hundred of us could drown in that freezing, black water, with nobody to remember us. Have you seen it out there? It's chaos, Michael, there're riots and crowds of people bundling onto tipping lifeboats, while others leave half full. It's like a war zone."

At almost precisely the right moment, an older woman who happened to share the same cabin as the O'Byrne's entered. Her clothes and hair were ringing wet, the children in her arms crying.

"Can't get nowhere near a boat!", she begun, "Just seen one with only a dozen first class passengers lowered into the water, the lot of them with grim smiles on their faces, refusing to board with anybody from a lower class. They don't even bloody care about the children - the children for God's sake!"

She silenced as she saw both Sean and Patrick sound asleep in bed.

"Aren't you even going to try to get them on a boat?"

"I wanted to but Olivia sa-"

"No. They won't be leaving for the boats, and nor will I. I refuse to leave my husband and try to continue my life as if nothing happened when one of those boats docks at New York city, and my children are forced to grow up asking me where their Daddy is everyday, until I have to tell them he died on a bloomin' ship that was supposedly unsinkable!" She was struggling to string together coherent sentences.

"You've got to try, please, for the kiddies. We're going back on deck in a few more minutes, they're loading another boat from one of the upper decks. I'll take the kids, if you want to stay. I'll take good care of 'em for you."

Olivia refused with the shake of her head.

"Please. Just let me take the kiddies. I'll look after them when we get to New York, I swear. Don't let them die out here."

"I'd rather they died out here than had to live a life without a mother and father. The O'Byrnes will die together, if we have to. I'm not getting on no boat until Michael can board it too."

The older woman stayed silent, frozen only for turning her gaze from one child to the next. She bit a chunk out of her scabbed, chapped lips before grabbing the door handle.

"I wish you all the best," she whispered, before hurrying her children out of the door and adjusting their life belts.

There was another vigorous knock on the door, before an old gentleman entered, the White Star Line logo on his uniform clearly visible.

"Life belts on immediately, if you will."

"We're not going, we're staying here on the ship in our quarters," Mrs Byrne hastily replied.

"Please ma'am, do it for the children. If you'd just put this around them for their safety," he said, attempting to hand her a bundle of life jackets before the quickly brushed them off and refused them.

"I'll leave the belts here, ma'am," the crew man instructed before leaving and bolting the cabin door.

The room was silent apart from an occasional whimper from one of the boys. Outside, the fury of passengers on the decks sounded, only adding to the panic both parents felt. They were on a presumably unsinkable ship. It was sinking. They would lose everything. Did they really want to live with the consequences, or would they rather die knowing they went down graciously, and let another family board a life-saving boat?

These are the types of decisions you have to make quickly when the fastest moving object on Earth has only two hours and forty minutes left afloat.

**AN: This chapter was written very quickly, straight after I saw Titanic 3D in cinemas, in fact. One scene is always particularly prominent for me in the whole film, no matter how many times I watch it. It is that of the Irish mother and her children, who are tucked up in bed on the night of the sinking, being told the story of 'Tir Na Nóg' by their mother. I decided to write a small fanfic leading up to that scene, while Titanic is sinking and the family have to make some life-changing decisions for their two children. Not much is mentioned about the family, so much of this is my own work. Thanks for reading. Please R&R!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Land of Eternal Youth and Beauty: Chapter Two**

"I'm thirsty, ma," whimpered Patrick from inside of his bed covers, still cradling Sean in his frail arms.

"Ah, well there'll be plently to drink soon, Pad, when this ship goes down." Olivia wore and tense, pain-stricken expression on her aged face, the wrinkles on her head pertruding out of her skin.

"You can't tell him that!" Mr O'Byrne begun at once. "How can you tell your son that? You've given up, haven't you? You can't give up - not now - not ever! We will not go down with this thing."

"What's going on, ma?" Patrick questioned again. The ten-year-old boy was oblivious to the current situation, his naivity controlling the world he presently lived in. They couldn't tell him, he wouldn't understand.

"Nothing, son. What about a nice bedtime story, aye?"

Patrick nodded, settling back down onto the springy matress below him. Olivia made her way to his bed, sitting down on the edge of the bunk and smiling at her son.

"Tir Na Nog, yes?"

There was a brisk, quick nod again from the eldest of the boys. Olivia breathed in and tried to hold back the tears from her eyes, threatning to spill.

"Once upon a time, many years ago, a man called Ossain lived in Ireland. Remember, that's where we live? Well, he was a handsome boy, son of Finn and Fianna. He had soft red hair and bright blue eyes, and was one of the tallest and strongest men anybody had every seen. One day, the whole family were cooking fish and singing songs on the beach, when they suddenly stopped in the middle of a word. They saw a young lady riding a pure white horse - it was one of the most beautiful women Ossain had ever seen."

"Ma, what was the lady's name?" Patrick asked, his voice waking up a sleeping Sean. Sean blinked and wiped away his arid eyes, looking at his mother.

"Are you telling a story, ma?"

"Tir Na Nog, love. And the beautiful lady's name was Niamh," Olivia replied. The young boys settled once again.

"'I have come to the Island of Tir Na Nog, the land of Youth and Beauty. I have fallen in love with Ossain.' On the little island of Tir Na Nog, everybody was very beautiful. Nobody was ever sick and everybody ate there favourite foods whenever they wanted to. They danced and sung the day away, and all of the children were very happy."

Olivia saw Michael then leave the room, his reddened face streaming with tears. He'd always been weaker than she had.

"So Ossain galloped to Tir Na Nog with Niamh for many miles. When he reached the beautiful land, he was happy for years. But one day, around ten years later, he started to miss Ireland. Just like you did, Sean, the first day we got on this ship?"

Sean nodded and smiled a toothy grin at his mother.

"But Niamh warned him that if his feet ever touched the ground, he could never return to Tir Na Nog. Ossain galloped back to Ireland as fast as he could, only to find that his parents were not there anymore, and nobody could remember them. He was very sad, but continued to gallop around. When suddenly, he fell off the white horse and begun to change into a very old man. And when Ossain did die, he was buried in Ireland, the land he loved the most."

Olivia stopped talking and watched the childrens' faces. They always had loved that story, always a favourite as soon as they had learnt to listen to their mother.

"When can we go to Tir Na Nog, ma?" asked Sean.

"Very soon, darling. Very soon indeed. In fact, in an hour or two we'll already be there."

The children buzzed in excitement in the beds, causing them to toss around a little.

"And can we eat whatever food we want, and dance, and sing? Can we do that, ma?"

Olivia smiled. "Of course, we can. I'll be better than you can ever imagine, and the food will be even better than Titanic's. We'll all be treated like Princes and Princesses there, too, and we'll all live happily ever after, all of us?"

"Is that where we're all going? Is everybody on this ship going to Tir Na Nog, all of us?" asked Patrick, his voice muffled by his pillow.

"Yes, darling, of course we are. So why don't you hush up and rest your little heads so we can get there even more quickly, eh?"

Both boys nodded, the excitement seeming died down and a hum of silence filling the room. Olivia turned off the cabin light and tucked the both of them back into bed.

"I love you, sleep tight," she kissed them both on the head.

"I love you too Mam, see you in Tir Na Nog," murmured a sleepy Sean, resting he head on his pillow and cuddling back up to Patrick.

Olivia sat down on her own bed, surrounded by the few possessions they had as steerage passengers. The bed sheets had slipped slightly, the gushes of water on the floor dampening them. She picked them up and folded them under the matress of the bed, wondering where her husband was now. Even at the hour of her death she was still very alone.

The bustling people on the decks and in corridors had still not ceased. A vicar outside said Hail Mary again and again as people clutched his hand and begged God for mercy. Children cried. Wives said goodbye to their husbands. Lifeboats were lowered, swinging and tipping, one by one.

_Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death._

**AN: Still one more chapter to write, so stay tune for Chapter Three, when Titanic says the final goodbye. I tried to create as much emotion as I could in this chapter, though it is very difficult as I've limited myself to only 1000 words per chapter, creating a 3000 word short story. This scene in the film, however short, will always be my favourite and makes me cry every time. I've tried to create convincing characters, hence the pooly written text in speech. I'm also planning on writing some one shots, as requested, based on the older couple who die sleeping in their bed, and the violinists who played until the ship went down. Enjoy, and I'm sorry for any SPaG errors as this has not yet been edited.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Land of Eternal Youth and Beauty: Chapter Three**

Olivia never had prayed, but the moment the surge of water knocked the cabin door off the hinges and started to break into the room, she prayed with all of her might. Hail Mary. Our Father. Everything she'd learnt from going to church with her mother and father back in Ireland when she was just and child.

The room filled with with water faster than she'd ever imagined, and as she heard the last lifeboat departing outside, Olivia wished she'd put the children safely on a boat and left them with even a change to live. The waterline was up to her knees, drenching the undergarments of her dress in a foul, muddy liquid. It was freezing: like thousands of tiny knives stabbing into her legs until she gave up, her knees weakened, and she fell to the floor. On her hands and knees, she made her way to the children's bed and sat on the edge.

They were still sleeping, the hum of their breathing the thing she chose to focus on. Only she knew that hum would shortly stop, as the ship would sink and drown them all. She hastily closed their window, finding the waterline of the ocean below edging nearer and nearer, threatning to spill in at any given moment.

Where was Michael? He never said he'd leave, ever. There were'nt any lifeboats left, anyway. Perhaps he'd boarded with another family as the crew allowed men onto the lifeboats. No, surely he'd want to stay with his family. But God only knows what runs through a man's mind when he's stuck on a sinking ship with a family refusing to move and the certainty of all drowing to death.

The door slammed to the ground and a bleakly dark silhouette entered the room. It was Michael. He was drenched, his face grimy with mud and sewage from the ocean.

"Children - there're children and mothers crying outside as upper-class men board lifeboats. What is this world we live in, ey? A world where class matters for survival, that's what kind." Michael shook his head in revolt and disgust, then found his sky-blue eyes on the children.

"They're sleeping?"

Olivia nodded. "We're off to Tir Na Nog soon, fancy coming?" So desperate, her request seemed almost genuine. Michael nodded in reply, smiling at the children with sodden tears escaping his cloudy eyes.

Olivia pushed herself up from the bed and walked over to him, embracing him in her arms and holding his tightly against her.

"I love you, remember that," she whispered.

"I know," Michael nodded, "I love you too."

And with that hey kissed for what they knew would be the last time, wanting to make it last and cherishing every second of it, refusing to let go.

"I love you too, Mam." A tentative murmur came from the children's bunk, which was instantly recognised as Sean's. Olivia and Michael didn't know whether to be embarrassed, angered or pleased with their unsightly visitor, but chose to embrace the moment and both smiled back at him.

"I love each one of you," whispered Olivia, giving in to the tears filling her murky eyes and letting them run down her pale cheeks and onto her lips.

* * *

They four of them lay together on the children's bed, clutching eachother's hands, their grips causing reddening and swelling, but nobody daren't to say a thing. Mrs O'Byrne wondered if the children knew what was happening right now, or whether they really were still under the illusion that they were indeed on their way to Tir Na Nog. The water had made its way halfway up the room now, shadowing their belongings on its way and leaving them, most definitely, with nothing.

Then it came. The train ride to Tir Na Nog came; the ride that had been creeping up on them for their entire journey.

A surge of water flew down the steerage passenger corridor and into their room. Michael and Olivia glipsed at eachother with arid, eager expressions and momentarily cradled one child each in their arms to shield them from harm's way, even just for those extra few seconds. The water roared with power as it only grew in height, swarming down the corridor and knocking out everything in its way. In their room, the wave that would kill them tore through the beds, within split-seconds makings its way to where the family lay. This was it. This was death knocking.

"Ma, what's happening, where's Tir Na Nog?" The screech and whine in little Sean's voice was the last thing each of them heard, the wave engulfing them and throwing them forwards, smashing through the window and carrying them all with it.

Out in the ocean, the family lay battered, bruised and beaten. Their skulls had presumably been smashed with the force of the wave, their skin shattered by glass and debris. Amongst them, hundred of other body's lay, kept up by lifejackets. Michael, Olivia and Patrick floated only for a brief few seconds, before their skin turned blue and their lips chapped, and the ocean carried them downwards to their watery graves.

* * *

Nobody knew that seven-year-old Sean O'Byrne would actually survive. Hurled onto lifeboat 6 at twenty five minutes past two in the morning by a passer by, he was wrapped in countless blankets in an effort to keep him alive until they reached the Carpathia the next morning. When he woke, he was greeted by the corcened, freezing face of a young woman, wearing only a thin dress and a life jacket.

"Where am I?" he asked, dazed, the cuts on his face preventing his vision in one eye. The young lady smiled sympathetically at him.

"I-I'm Niamh, we dragged you up from the water."

Little Sean was shattered, his body broken, and at once fell back into his sleep. Never to know his parents or his brother, he boarded the Carpathia with Niamh O'Mahoney and went on to lead a successful life as an Author, forever cherishing the memory of his Mother and Father's last kiss.

**AN: I hoped you liked this! This was the final chapter of the short story, and the most difficult to write. It was hard to get every detail I wanted to into the chapter as everything happened to quickly, but I thought the ending would be a nice touch to get you all crying. Message me if you have any requests! **


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